Where Once Was Light
by Shimmerwings
Summary: Slash. "Where once was light...now darkness falls"


**Title:  **Where Once Was Light

**Rating:**  PG

**Feedback:**  I crave it.  Like a drug.  *ponders*  Does that make you my dealer?

**Category:  **Slash.  Angstish.  

**Disclaimer:  **These boys be Disney's.  Story inspired by "Gollum's Song" from the Two Towers.  Lyrics at end.

**Notes:  **Certain songs should come with a warning label, like medicine:  Do not operate heavy machinery or write after listening to this song on repeat.  Story may make more sense after reading lyrics to song.  Note I said "may".

Eheh.  If Jack and David were going down, I was taking Skitts and Snitch with them.

*******************

David kissed Jack.

It was a small thing, but when the sun caressed them and flashed in David's eyes, it seemed a benediction.

**

_Snitch was the first to figure it out._

_**_

When Skittery told Snitch he was in love with him, the sky smiled also.  Snitch's hair blazed golden in the light; Skittery's lips pressed heat into his.

**

_"Hey, Jack," David smiled.  He glanced at the sky as the sun struggled below the horizon.  "You coming over tonight?"_

_Jack looked solemnly at him, the growing shadows pooling in his eyes.  "Nah, Dave.  I'm kinda busy tonight."_

_Disappointment was hidden by the twilight.  "Again?"_

_"Yeah."__  Jack shrugged.  "Promised Race I'd help him with something."_

_"Oh.  Okay."_

_**_

Strangers who saw Jack and David together remarked at their extraordinary closeness and familiarity.  The radiance in their eyes when they looked at each other was love, and people with winter-chilled hearts felt happier near them, like spring.

**        

_When Snitch told him, he thought David was going to hit him.  Then he thought, no, maybe David was going to cry.  _

_After all, Snitch had. _

_**_

Once, a little girl in bright Sunday clothes saw Snitch and Skittery standing together.  They were staring at each other, their smiles brilliant.

"Look, Mama!" she cried, a finger pointed in their direction.  "They glow, like the saints in the pretty windows at church."

Their happiness was palpable. 

**

_"Snitch."___

_"Yeah, Skitts?"__  Snitch looked up from tying his shoe, the last sunrays of the day clinging to his cheeks and fading slowly away._

_Skittery looked down at him, his face hidden.  "I can't make it to Medda's tonight.  I'm not feeling so good."_

_Snitch jumped up.  "Are you okay?  Do you need me to--"_

_"No," Skittery said, his feet shuffling on the dim street.___

_Snitch frowned unhappily.  "Fine."_

_**_

David didn't cry, not at first.  He sat down hard on the nearest crate and stared, as if trying to convince himself that it was still bright daylight, that the sun hadn't staggered from the sky.  Snitch swallowed past a lump in his throat, wishing he could recapture the same feeling of warmth David was struggling for.  He hadn't been able to, though.

David's face was pale in the moonlight and so were Snitch's hands when he glanced down at them.

**

_Snitch shivered in the chill night air as he hid in an alley near the Lodging House.  He was waiting for Skittery to show up, so he could find out what was going on.  Skittery had been acting strangely for the past few weeks, always preoccupied and distant.  _

_Footsteps echoing on the empty street made him jerk further into the shadows.  He watched in surprise as Jack entered the empty building.  Hadn't Jack left for Dave's place?_

_Then Skittery appeared at the end of the street and Snitch forgot that as he trembled in premonition._

_**_

Tears were in David's eyes when he finally looked at Snitch again, and they rolled down his cheeks like thunderstorms.

"Why?" he whispered, voice desolate.

Snitch could only shake his head and reach out blindly, offering the bitter comfort of shared sorrow and tears.

**

_Creeping up the stairs, Snitch used every trick he had not to be seen or heard.  So he heard them first.  The words they said didn't matter to him, but the silence did.  Because when he peeked through the door they were kissing, alone in the dark bunkroom._

_He was lost._

_**_

They confronted Jack and Skittery together.  Snitch didn't think he could do it alone, not when he would look at Skittery and see only an instance of dark betrayal.  

David looked as likely to break as spun glass, but his eyes were blue steel, forged by tears.

**

_Don't say goodbye . . ._

**

Jack stared when Snitch stepped in front of him and said, "We know".  He glanced at David's averted face and began babbling, glib façade crumbling at last, eroded away by lies.  Skittery looked away, eyes shadowed.

"I'm sorry," Jack said and Skittery nodded.

"No," David said quietly.  He finally looked directly at Jack and Snitch started at the pained determination on his face.  "No, you're not.  It's too late for that anyway."  He paused, blinking rapidly.  Snitch found himself putting a hand on David's shoulder.  A profound weariness settled over him.

"You would've tried if you really cared," he said, meeting Skittery's eyes and seeing tears.  He shook his head, denied them.  "It's too late," he echoed David.  And he walked away, not caring that both Jack and Skittery were crying then, only caring that David was with him.

**

_They were lost.  They were lost._

_They could never go home._

*********************

Gollum's Song

Where once was light

Now darkness falls

Where once was love

Love is no more

Don't say – goodbye

Don't say – I didn't try . . .

These tears we cry

Are falling rain

For all the lies

You told us

The hurt, the blame!

And we will weep

To be so alone

We are lost!

We can never go home

So in the end

I will be – what I will be

No loyal friend

Was ever there for me

Now we say – goodbye

We say – you didn't try . . .

These tears you cry

Have come too late

Take back the lies

The hurt, the blame!

And you will weep

When you face the end alone

You are lost!

You can never go home.


End file.
